Slovakia Koruna

Bloomberg this morning:

Slovak Koruna Gains on Quicker-Than-Forecast Industrial Growth

July 9 (Bloomberg) -- The Slovak koruna advanced to a 2 1/2 month high against the euro after a government report showed industrial output grew quicker than forecast in May.

The koruna was the best performer today of European and African currencies after the government's statistical office said factory production, adjusted for working days, grew 17.4 percent, mainly driven by exports. The report underpinned expectations of an improvement in the currency's current account.

``The data reinforced expectations of better current account figures and this is helping the koruna, though we are observing low liquidity,'' said Piotr Chwiejczak, an analyst at UniCredit MIB in Vienna.

Against the euro, the koruna rose to the highest since April and traded at 33.398 by 11:10 a.m. in Bratislava, from 33.521 late on June 6.

May's industrial production figure compared with the 13.7 percent increase predicted in a Bloomberg News survey, and was higher than the 14.9 percent growth in April.

Slovak trade figures for May are due on July 12 and economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect a deficit of 1.4 billion koruna, worse than April's figure.